Philippians 2:20-30 - 3:1-16 Amplified Bible||The Attitude Of Christ

What's going on, my brothers and sisters in Christ?

This is Evangelist Toby Doubted.

We are here in another teaching today.

We're going to continue off in the book of Philippians, man.

We're trying to get through that thing, man, but there's a lot of word in here that has to be exhausted.

And so we we can't just move on forward without being able to totally go through the word the best we can so that we can get a good understanding of what the word is actually trying to say.

Um this is an epistle of the apostle Paul.

Now the Apostle Paul wrote quite a bit in the New Testament, and there's a reason for that.

One of the things I always say, if you want to stay perfect in your understanding of God's Word, then you have to get into these epistles of the Apostle Paul.

The Apostle Paul will let us know those things that we can eat and digest out of the Old Testament or just learn simply from, uh, so that we can understand not to walk in some of the same ways that the children of Israel did, and even those who were Gentiles, um, who were what the Bible says were a far off from God at that time when God called Israel out of Egypt.

So you can learn a lot from the Apostle Paul's epistles, and it's very important to stay in there.

Now, there's times where in anyone, um, when they are quoting from the old testament, it will be in all capital letters, and there are other times when things are put in there, you don't know that they came from the old testament unless you study the scriptures well to be able to understand that some of the inspired writings that most of these um apostles got came from the old testament, but you have to study the word in order to be able to understand that, and as we go through the apostle Paul's epistles, we're going to start seeing some of those um signs of writings that come from the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit inspired for him to write.

We have to understand that the Apostle Paul probably understood the Hebrew scriptures about as good as anybody, and the apostle Paul is going to talk about how self-righteous and religious he was.

He studied the laws of Moses um greatly and he understood them, which is why he thought Jesus was an imposter to the faith and those who followed him was until his encounter on the road to Damascus.

So let's go ahead without further ado, and let's go ahead and um continue off in verse 20 in chapter 2, because that's where we are currently right now.

We're going to try to see how far we can get.

We may be able to finish all Philippians chapter 3.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Um, not really sure yet, but we're going to try to see how far we can go in there today.

So let's go ahead and pick on up and look at in verse 20 first.

And uh, and it reads, For I have no one else like him who is so kindred, a spirit, who would be genuinely concerned for your spiritual welfare.

Now, of course, the apostle Paul is talking about one of his faithfuls, um, Timothy, who had been with him for about probably over 20 years.

Now we have two books that are written to Timothy from the Apostle Paul, who was giving him instructions on how to run his church and how to deal with people in his church and how to help people to grow into spiritual maturity.

And so this is Timothy, whom the Apostle Paul wants to send back to the churches of Philippi.

Now, something we don't see today a lot of.

There are true pastors that are still out there that do this, that take it seriously about the sheep that they've been given in the sheep folk.

But you do have some that the apostle Paul is going to address in chapter 3 that only care about financial gain.

They don't care about the sheep.

So if the wolves come in to attack, they're the one of the first ones who are running uh for shelter.

Okay, because all they want is to make money off of the people, they have no concern about the well-being of the people.

As you will see, the Apostle Paul stresses that he didn't play that.

Uh, he did not only minister the word and taught the word, but he also sent those uh who were from him to make sure people were still walking in the correct way.

Okay, and this is one of the uh people that he's going to send back to the churches of Philippi to make sure everybody is still on the up and up there.

Make sure everybody walk is uh doing a walk check and walk in the way that God has called them to walk.

So he's talking about sending Timothy because he is in prison and he is unable to make this trip at this time.

Alright.

Verse 21.

For others, for the others who deserted me after my arrest all seek to advance their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

Now, if anybody understood abandonment, the apostle Paul did.

And here you see that there were those who followed the apostle at one point, but as soon as he went to prison, they abandoned him, meaning they not only went their own way, doing their own thing, but they never showed up to visit him while he was in prison.

Okay.

Verse 22, but you know of Timothy's test, worth, and his proven character that he has served with me to advance the gospel, like a son serving with his father.

So, like I said, he had been with the apostle Paul for quite some time, probably at the age of 20, and it was probably about 40 years old.

But now he is going to start his own church, and the apostle Paul is helping him through that.

Okay, how to choose pastors, deacons, uh, elders, and all of those things, and how to deal with those who err in the scriptures.

Okay.

Verse 22.

Therefore, I hope that it is his will to send him immediately, just as soon as I see how my case turns out.

Okay, the apostle Paul is talking about his situation.

Uh, he is waiting to see if he's going to be released or not.

And I trust confidently in the Lord that soon as I that soon I also will be coming to you.

Verse 25.

However, I thought it necessary to send back to you Epherotius, Epheroitus, who has been my brother and companion and fellow soldier, who was also sent as your messenger to take care of my needs.

Now, the apostle Paul is going to talk about how when he's in prison, he is seeking for financial uh need from these people in the churches of Philippi.

Now, it is recorded in the Bible that out of all the people that the Apostle Paul has dealt with, all the churches that he has established, whether the churches in Galatea, whether the churches of Ephesus, churches of Philippi were the only ones who really helped him in his time of need.

Now, in most cases, the Apostle Paul would not ask anyone for anything if he were not in prison because he had his own business.

He was a tent maker.

Not only was he a tent maker, he was able to employ those who followed him and also minister the word whom he established in the gospel.

Uh, he would help to employ them so they didn't have to beg for food or seek for food or shelter from anyone.

They were able to hold their own.

And you see this in the book of 1 and 2 Thessalonians when the apostle Paul talks about how they were not a burden to the people.

Okay, so now he's going to send a couple of people there to keep watch and and and to encourage and make sure that the people of Philippi still walk in the right way.

And Ephraimotus is one of them, besides uh Timothy, who is also going to be sent.

Verse 26, for he has been longing for all of you and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.

He certainly was sick and close to death, but God had mercy on him and not only on him, but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow now at this time.

The apostle Paul is not able to help heal his friend.

Okay, and his friend almost came close to death, but he was a faithful one who ministered the word and was a faithful disciple of the apostle Paul.

Okay, and he's finally come to health, and the apostle is hoping to send him along with Timothy also.

He is eager to go to these people.

These people were great people, like I told you before, they had not a lot of money.

While there were few that did, these people were mainly poor for the most part, and we saw that in 2 Corinthians chapter 8.

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

Uh, but they were very giving.

God says he loves a cheerful giver, and they were definitely that.

They gave over and beyond, even though they didn't have a lot, and this is why the apostle Paul is asking for them uh to help him while he is in a situation where he is unable to work for himself.

But God had mercy on his friend because the apostle Paul looked at this as a blessing so that he wouldn't be buried in sorrow upon sorrow for losing his friend and death from a great illness that he had.

Verse 28, so I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less concerned about you.

Welcome him home in the Lord with great joy and appreciate and honor men like him.

Now, I told you before that there were people that the apostle Paul was concerned with their spiritual health, and the churches in Corinth were one of them.

Okay, and the apostle Paul talks about this that he had great fear that just like Eve, they would be deceived and carried off by many by believing and holding true to a false doctrine, okay, and not the doctrines that the apostle Paul gave them.

Alright, and this is what the apostle Paul is talking about, so that he may not have any concern about their walk.

Alright.

Now, verse 29 welcome him home in the Lord with great joy and appreciate and honor men like him, because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me, which distanced distance prevented you from rendering personally.

Now, here's the whole situation here.

The apostle Paul talks about this, and Jesus said it too, that you will have to suffer for my sake, and that can mean to the point of death.

Now, in this case, for his friend uh who was sick and almost didn't make it, he stayed faithful still, regardless of his sickness, to minister the word of truth.

Okay, and this is what the apostle Paul is talking about here.

Now we are getting into chapter 3.

And uh, so we're just gonna start here.

Uh, I do want to apologize.

I am reading from an amplified Bible.

Uh, I did not get to state that earlier when we got started because I wanted to go ahead and jump on into it.

Many of you that have been listening to uh the ministry know that we start off this way, but there may be some of you who are brand new and haven't heard uh these teachings yet that don't realize I am looking and studying out of the amplified Bible.

Now, whatever Bible you have been comfortable, comfortable with, uh stick with it.

But if you do want to use an amplified Bible, which has served me well, you can go to Bible Gateway to have a free version there, the AMP version, not the AMPC, which is the classic edition.

Because the AMP is the edition that I currently use right now.

Uh, but with that being said, we're gonna go ahead and jump into chapter 3 and see how far we can get.

Now, there will be a lot of scriptural reading uh as appropriate and necessary so that we can further get a deeper understanding of understanding of what some of these scriptures are saying.

Alright, so let's go ahead and jump on into it.

Finally, my fellow believers, continue to rejoice and delight in the Lord.

To write the same things again is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you.

Look, the apostle Paul said that there was no problem for him to repeat things.

Repeating things is not a bad thing, ladies and gentlemen.

It allows repetition and for you to uh really soak it into your spirit and eventually transfer it into your soul so that you can walk accordingly to the truth that you are getting.

So, this is why the apostle Paul says, Look, to send these things in writing to you multiple times is not a problem for me at all, because I believe that it helps you as well as it helps myself.

So let's keep going.

Look out for the dogs, the Judaizers, the legalists, look out for the troublemakers, look out for the false circumcision, those who claim circumcision is necessary for salvation.

Now, the apostle Paul is going to further explain that.

But the churches in Galatea had this issue majorly, um, where there were Judaizers who seemed to be heavily steeped in self-righteousness and self-religion of the laws of Moses, trying to get added works onto salvation.

Now, with that being said, before we continue, I want to go over to Ephesians chapter 2 and read verses 8 and 9, because we can't work for our salvation.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Just because the apostle Paul says to work out work out our own salvation with fear and trembling does not mean Paul is trying to say adding works to that.

What Paul is talking about, which I've stressed before, is doing a walk check on yourself, self-evaluation to make sure that you're not doing anything that is not allowing you to fully walk in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Okay, and this is why a self-evaluation check is necessary, and this is why the apostle Paul preaches this and admonishes us to make sure that we're we're doing a test evaluation on our own actions, thoughts, and purposes, making sure that they are aligned with the will of God.

Okay?

So I want to go over here to Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

I'm gonna look at verses 8 and 9.

Because there are people out here who seem to think that you have to do works to earn your salvation, and that's not the truth.

That's not the truth.

We don't do works to earn salvation, salvation, ladies and gentlemen.

We do works to earn rewards.

Okay, and I'm gonna talk about that one day when we get over to 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

But in this regard, watch what the apostle Paul says here again, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8.

Ephesians 2:8

It says, For it is by grace God's remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ, that you have been saved, actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life through faith and this salvation.

Watch this, is not of yourselves, not through your own effort, which the apostle Paul is going to continue to drive home when we get back over here to Philippians chapter 3, verse 3.

Philippians 3:3

Nor your attempts to look at this, keep the law, so that no one will be able to boast or take credit in any way for his salvation.

Now, the apostle Paul used Abraham as an example for this.

It is because of Abraham's faith that God accounted to him righteousness.

Abraham could not earn righteousness because righteousness is of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and that righteousness is what we walk in today, not our own righteousness.

Okay?

Because if Abraham could earn his salvation, then he would have reason to boast.

And this is what the apostle Paul is talking about.

But only God has reason to boast.

Now, although we're going to see the apostle Paul boast a little bit here about himself and what he was, because he once was a Judaizer.

Okay, and the Apostle Paul is going to talk about this.

Alright, now.

So we can't earn salvation, it is given to us as a free free gift through grace.

Okay.

Alright, so now let's get back over here to Philippians chapter 3, verse 3.

Philippians 3:3

Watch this.

Now the apostle Paul is going to further explain about how to deal with these people, okay?

By being born again.

For we who are born again have been reborn, look at this from above, spiritually transformed, renewed, set apart for his purpose, and are the true circumcision, who worship in the spirit of God and glory and take pride and exalt in Christ Jesus and place no confidence in what we have or who we are in the flesh.

Now, when you are born again, you are not born again of yourselves.

It is the Holy Spirit, the Bible tells us, that stirs our hearts to believe and have faith in Jesus Christ.

So we can't come to Jesus without that stirring.

God gives us the desire to hunger for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And when we are born again, we worship God in spirit and truth.

Now, as we see the Apostle Paul talk about this, when you go over into the book of John, you will see a whole chapter where Jesus Christ is having a conversation with a certain high priest, uh, Nicodemus, who comes to him secretly in the night because he does not want anyone to know that he's going to visit Jesus Christ.

And Jesus goes over the whole uh process of being born again.

Nicodemus struggles with understanding these truths, and Jesus said, Well, all your great teaching, you don't understand any of this.

But yet Jesus goes on and it continues to explain it to him because he is sincere and wanted to understand the truth.

And this is what the apostle Paul is talking about this fake circumcision.

Now, it's not necessarily a fake circumcision in regard of how the uh God introduced his circumcision to Abraham uh in the Old Testament, because that was the old covenant that all men starting from uh eight years old and up had to be circumcised.

Okay, and so when he introduced that as part of the covenant to Abraham and his people, uh that that was a requirement.

Now we have a circumcision, which the Bible says spiritually has not been made with human hands.

Only Jesus Christ can give us his circumcision, and this spiritual circumcision of life is what the apostle Paul is talking about here.

So as we worship God and we worship God in spirit and truth, we take no pride in our own confidence.

Let's go over here into John chapter 4, where John talks about this account of Jesus Christ telling us that we have to worship God in spirit and truth because God is a spirit.

John 4 · chapter mention

So this same uh words that the apostle Paul used, we're gonna see John also talking about the same thing.

So let's get on over here.

And uh I want to look at verse give me one second here.

Let's get on over here to John chapter four, and I want to look at verse twenty-four.

Watch what it says here, how we have to worship God.

And it says here, God is what?

Spirit, the source of life, yet invisible to mankind, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

So as we see here, the apostle Paul is also talking about how when we are re when we are born again, we also worship God in the same way.

We worship God in the spirit and glory and take pride and exalt in Christ Jesus and place no confidence in what we have or who we are in the flesh.

Now the apostle Paul is going to get to talking about himself and what he was in the flesh, but he's not doing it as a boastful and arrogant way.

He's showing us what he once was and who he is now as we see his transformation through this chapter.

Though I myself, verse 4, back in Philippians chapter 3, might have some ground for confidence in the flesh if I were pursuing salvation by works.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

In other words, if I were pursuing salvation by works, I would probably be greater than most who are doing it purposely right now, as those Judaizers were.

Circumcised when I was eight days old of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, an exemplary Hebrew, as to the observance of the law, a Pharisee.

Now I do have to apologize here.

I said eight years old, and I meant eight days.

So I just want to make sure that I uh apologize for that so that we understand that it was as far as eight days old for a man child to be circumcised according to the covenant that was given to Abraham, uh, that God would make his name great and he would give him many descendants.

Okay?

But the apostle Paul says, Look, whatever they were as Jews, I was the more.

As to my zeal for Jewish tradition, a persecutor of the church, and as to righteousness, supposed right living, which my fellow Jews believe is in the law, I proved myself blameless.

So we know about the apostle Paul who was Saul at one point in time, and he persecuted the Jewish church because he thought they were impostors to the Jewish faith.

Well, it turns out that Jesus was not an imposter, he was the real deal.

And as the apostle Paul encountered him on that road to Damascus, blinding him because of his light.

Uh, the apostle Paul talks about how he was a persecutor of the Jewish church.

And we know that he was.

He even sat there and instigated a man's death and watched that man die, stone to death in front of his own eyes, before Jesus finally says, I've had enough.

You're not going to continue doing this.

And we see that God chose and used him according to Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Alright.

But whatever former things were gains to me, as I thought then, these things once regarded as advancements in merit, I have come to consider as lost, absolutely worthless, for the sake of Christ and the purpose which He has given my life.

Whatever I thought I was does not hold in comparison to who Jesus Christ is now in me.

Alright.

But more than that, I count everything as lost compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with him, a joy unequal.

For his sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage so that I may gain Christ.

I have died daily to who I was, so that I can gain more of Christ in me.

What I thought I was, and the life that I thought I was living, the religious values that I had means nothing to me compared to my relationship with Christ.

And you notice how he says, thoroughly acquainted with him, meaning he took time to hang out with Jesus and to know who Jesus was for himself.

Now we see this heavy account in the book of Galatians where it talks about how the apostle Paul got with the resurrected, resurrected Jesus, and Jesus uncovered all of these mysteries, which now are no longer mysteries because the apostle Paul has revealed them.

But for three years alone with Jesus Christ, he talks about.

He did not go and confer with Peter, James, John, or any of them.

He got with Jesus first and got these revelations, and then after that, then the Bible says he went and he sat with them.

Jesus did not allow him to be influenced by what he gave them instructions to do.

Because he had a different path for the apostle Paul was to go to the Gentiles.

Okay.

But the Apostle Paul, as he's talking about his former life of who he was versus who he is now in Christ, means nothing.

Okay?

It's all garbage to him.

Verse 9, and may be found in him, believing and relying on him, not having any righteousness of my own, deride from my obedience to the law and its rituals, but possessing that genuine righteousness which comes, look at this, through faith in Christ.

Because our righteousness is not of our own, it is of Jesus Christ.

Alright, now the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, verse 10, and this so that I may know him expiritually, experimentally, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with him, understanding the remarkable wonders of his person more completely, and in that same way experience the power of his resurrection, which overflows and is active in believers, and that I may share the fellowship of his suffering by being continually conformed inwardly into his likeness, even to his death, dying as he did.

Now, as Jesus physically died on that cross is what we have to spiritually do every day.

Once again, we see the apostle Paul says he was thoroughly acquainted with Jesus.

So he will not be one of those people that Jesus says, Depart from me, for I do not know you.

Jesus says, When I knock on the door, if you open that door, I will come and sit down and eat with you.

That is the type of relationship that he wants to have that the apostle Paul says he had.

There's going to be many people who are going to be surprised when the relationship they thought they had, they did not have because they did not have the personal relationship or take the time out to actually sit down with Jesus and break bread together.

Spiritual bread at this point.

Okay.

So he says he was acquainted with the person, Jesus Christ.

Okay.

He knew him in a way where most people did not experience that.

And he received the Holy Spirit, who is the one gives us the power of resurrection, such as Jesus Christ had.

Okay?

Continually being transformed.

Inwardly.

Inwardly.

Because inwardly is where it starts, ladies and gentlemen, before it makes its public appearance of transformation in Jesus Christ.

Our whole goal is to become the image of Christ.

Now, will we be fully walking in that image?

No, we won't be until we meet Jesus face to face, when we will fully be changed.

And he's going to talk about that here.

What that change looks like, what that total transformation looks like.

But we have to die daily, such as he did on the cross, so that I may obtain the resurrection that will raise me from the dead.

Alright.

Verse 12.

Not that I have already obtained it.

This goal of being Christ-like, or have already been made perfect, but I actively look at this press on so that I may take hold of that perfection, for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me his own.

Now, it is a daily process to walk Christ-like.

And this is what the Apostle Paul continues to emphasize the point of spiritual dying to ourselves daily, our own selfish desires, what we want to be, what we want to accomplish, we have to die to those things.

Okay?

And it is a continuous process.

And the Apostle Paul is letting us know this.

Verse 13, brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet.

But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead and who I was, I'm leaving all of that.

It's garbage to me.

So that I may obtain more of Christ in me.

Okay, I press on toward the goal to win the heavenly prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Verse 15.

All of us who are mature, pursuing spiritual perfection, should have this attitude.

And if in any respect you have a different attitude, that too God will make clear to you.

Now I want to stop right here.

I don't want to go too much further because there are some interesting things that need to be talked about when we talk about how God will make clear to us what is hindering us from walking in the image of his son Jesus Christ.

So we're going to leave it right there and we're going to come back to it and pick up in that verse because there are some things that need to be talked about.

I talked briefly about the self-evaluation, but we want to go even deeper here.

In chapter 3, when it comes to this verse of the things that God will make clear to us, we're going to go real deep on a personal level, trauma, childhood level, so that we can understand how to get to the place as we're pursuing spiritual maturity.

What can hinder us from reaching spiritual maturity?

Hinder us from being able to hear the voice of God, being led by the Holy Spirit and guided into the truth, where the truth will stick and it won't go in and out.

Okay.

Other than that, I'm Evangelist, Toby Doubted.

Peace and blessings.

I'm out.